I came across Jane when Granny Buttons passed that way in the summer of 2006 - the first link above relates to that day. I've not been down that part of the Oxford Canal since, but have never forgotten that divine little place.

My post might have inspired BBC Radio's Farming Today several weeks later to do their 'On Your Farm' programme about her smallholding; certainly they contacted me shortly before the prog for more information.

The magazine's citation:

“Visiting the 32-acre smallholding near Bicester is like walking back in time, with a working pony, an old Fergie tractor, a 1940s bailer, and a 1960s Morris 1,000. There is a marvellous Heath Robinson system for heating water with solar power, efficient rainwater harvesting, and even a home-made incubator for chicks.

“The vegetable garden is amazingly productive, and the smallholder has a loving relationship with her livestock, especially with her Jersey cows, which she sees as the hub of her smallholding.”

Jane earns a modest living running a tea garden by her canal-side home, and James said: “She told us that in material terms she is not rich – but that she is rich beyond her wildest dreams in terms of quality of life.

This is a smallholding that is magical and inspirational.”

Ditto.

I'd not heard of Country Smallholding before. I guess inevitably its circulation is to smallholders who surely can't find much time to drive into WH Smith, which probably explains why I've not seen it on the newsagent shelves.

I notice it's in the Archant 'stable' (how appropriate) of magazines; thus it is a sister magazine ofCanal Boat.

Canal Boatis available from good newsagents, of course, and as it happens its latest issue is out today. Has Canal Boat done a profile of Jane? They might well have done and I might have missed it. What a lovely place to stop and buy fresh, organic produce, and have a cream tea in the summer. She deserves a double-page spread, if not a centrefold!